See Me Walking
by Hickumu
Summary: AU. Might wanna read the book The Last Dodo first. What if Eve had agreed to the Doctor's final ultimatum: she spares Earth and he becomes an exhibit in her museum. Ten's POV. Spoilers for almost the entire book.
1. The Doctor

What can I say? I love Doctor angst, and I like it when the Doctor is in actual danger. It's a change of pace. This story just sort of...showed up.

Anyway, if you want a quick summary of what makes this happen, it's like this. Eve, the owner of the planet-wide Museum of the Last Ones (MOTLO) is planning on destroying the Earth using a bunch of bombs buried by clone dodos. In their final confrontation, the Doctor offers her this ultimatum: she spares the Earth and he joins her exhibit as a speciman. Earlier on the Doctor gives a speech about how he hates cages, and becoming an exhibit means being put in stasis for eternity. I would've liked to see it (again, Doctor angst! Martha would've rescued him...), so...

* * *

See Me Walking

See me walking.

For once, I'm walking slowly. What is the _point_ of walking slowly, I always wonder? Too much to see to walk slow. Too much to do to take your time. I run to see what's out there. I run to find tomorrow.

So, see me walking as slow as I possible can.

Because I have _never_ wanted to get to my destination any less.

Well…probably a few times. I mean, I didn't want to approach the Daleks in my fourth life. I didn't want to reach the courthouse in my sixth life. I didn't want to walk up to that game show podium in my last life.

But I did.

And once again, see me walking to a place I would give almost anything to avoid.

But not the Earth. Cos that's what I'm doing, ain't I? I am nobly giving myself up to save billions and billions of people. And Martha. Can't forget Martha.

Normally I'd jump at the chance to save so many people. And I did, but…

See me walking, surrounded by guards, with my good friend Eve waddling along ahead of me. Good old Eve, who's planning to blow up the Earth. Good old Eve, who's going to turn me into a museum exhibit.

I'm not going to run, so the guards are…well, unnecessary and annoying, truth to tell. I'm not going to run, cos Eve's still holding the detonator. But she insists. I suppose I must acquiesce to the demands of my new boss.

Or_owner_.

I'm going to be trapped forever. Trapped in hell. Can't move a muscle. Can't breathe a word. Trapped as the Last Time Lord in existence, for people of all sizes and species to gawk at forevermore.

Yep. Trapped in hell. Sounds about right.

"Are we there yet?" I ask, making my voice that of a whiny four-year old. Hey, I might as well enjoy my last few minutes of consciousness…by making Eve regret letting me have them.

"We are almost there," she says, without looking back at me. Gods, even for an android that woman is so…_boring_. That's all this place is to her. One big stamp collection.

"Ah. Good," I say, pretending to glance around with interest at the dark, empty museum. Just the way I like it. Lots and lots of empty cages.

And then there's with a nylon rope blocking it off, and a covering tossed aside.

My senses are all going into overdrive. I can smell the wood of the floors, the damp smell of stone. I can practically pick out the grain in the wood floors, see the slippery sparkle of the glass. I can guess the foot size of every one of our body guards as we cross the floor. Size eight, size twelve…how d'you get to be that big and have size six feet?

See me laugh.

Last round, finish up and clear out!

And then we're standing in front of the roped-off box.

The box meant for _me_.

My prison.

My _hell_.

"Get in," Eve orders crisply.

"First things first," I say indignantly, glancing at her. "Destroy that detonator or I'm not budging."

Eve looks me straight in the eye…

…and crushed the remote control effortlessly.

I grin. "Brilliant. Well, madam, you've held up your end of the bargain…"

My gaze slides to the box again. No more wandering. No more new sights, new people, new planets. No more newness. No more _anything_.

I must have taken a step back, because one of the bully boys shoved me forward a step.

"All right, all right!" I say, glaring at him. "I'm going. Eve holds up her end of the bargain, I hold up mine."

See me slowly walk into my prison, and turn to face them. See me stick my hand in my pocket, and grip my sonic screwdriver. I don't have any hopes of getting out with it. It's just…comforting.

I grin at Eve. "Sorry. Not much of a posing person…well, I am. Just…not for people like you."

Eve nods. "That position will be…adequate."

She moves to the control panel. I feel my body tense. Fight or flight.

No. No more running.

Maybe someone I know will come along. Maybe Martha will rescue me.

Or maybe I'll just stand here, for all eternity.

You never know.

See me smile.

Eve finishes entering the controls, and my whole world goes black and still.

Fin


	2. Martha

* * *

Hear the beeps as I enter the code I got from Tommy. After months and months and months in a stolen TARDIS stuck on Earth. Hear me praying, under my breath.

"Please, please, _please_…"

Eight, five, zero, zero one, six.

"Please…"

See me clasp my hands, like I'm in church, still praying. See me screw my eyes shut.

Hear the whirr of the keypad coming to life. Hear my heart thumping, as I don't dare to open my eyes but strain with my ears to tell if my plan worked.

"Oh, my head…"

My eyes fly open, and there he was. Standing there, in the perspex box, clutching his head with unfocused eyes. Moving, breathing, wonderfully alive!

"My head…" he mumbles again. "Oh, I feel like I've just had a night on the town…"

The smile that was spreading over my face froze.

"Uh…not exactly," I say, shifting nervously from foot-to-foot. "Try…"

"A few months stuckk in a cage, I know." he says, cutting across me. His eyes are starting to focus, and that cheers me up quite a bit. Probably no physical damage. "Figure of speech. Yeah…" He looks at me, and suddenly he's stone cold clear. No more disorientation. He's conscious, and he knows exactly why he hasn't been conscious for…

"Six months," I say helpfully, and then figuratively kick myself for being so helpful. Like he needs to know!

No physical damage. Probably a hell of a lot of mental damage. The Doctor just spent six months in hell.

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

He takes a couple of steps, and I can see he's not quite clear yet. Not quite steady.

Maybe I wasn't quite right about the physical damage. Tryin' to move after so, so long…

"Here we go!" I say, stepping in and taking his arm. "Come on, Doctor. You've got a date with the food court."

"Where's the TARDIS?" he mumbles.

"Earth section," I say, as we limp off together again. "Just where you left it."

"For six months?!"

"Ah…no. I, ah…took it home with me. Look, can we talk at the food court? You haven't eaten for six months, and as a doctor in training I'd say you need some carbs. Now."

* * *

Lucky us, there are no cages at the food court. It's possible to ignore the fact that it's a _zoo_.

See him eating.

Hear me talking.

"…and I tried. I did, Doctor, I did. But Eve called the cops on me. There…" I twist my fingers in my lap, six months of guilt coming back to bite. "…was nothing I could _do_; it was accept my ban or get locked up…luckily we'd stopped over at Earth before coming here, so I managed to figure out enough of the controls to go back...I told Mum it was an art project from a friend, we kept it in the garage, and I just waited until they'd let me back and I could do something...I had to wait, I didn't have a choice...I'm sorry, Doctor, I'm so sorry..."

"What about the Earth?" he asked, swallowing some of the ice cream enough to speak. "Is it still…y'know…there?"

"Yeah. Still Earth."

See him smile. Oh, god, I'd forgotten how much I'd missed that smile! "Well. Good. No problem."

I smile back. "…yeah. Finish up."

See him finish. See us stand.

See him take my hand.

"You've been taking care of the TARDIS?" he asks as we walk off.

"Yeah. It's all nice and tidy, just waitin' for you."

We're back in the zoo. See him scowl.

"Doctor…" I say, gripping his arm a little tighter. "Not today. Please? I…I don't wanna see you back in a cage all over again. Not again."

He…smiles at me. A tired smile…but still a smile. Today, I'll take what I can get."

"Okay," he says softly. "We'll…leave it. For now."

"For now."

See him grip my hand even tighter. See me grip it back.

See us walking, towards the TARDIS.

Towards tomorrow.

* * *

I'm not too sure about this chapter. Thoughts? This was originally gonna be a oneshot. I just was starting to feel a bit bad about leaving the Doctor in the lurch. And I'm developing a fondness for Alterate Universe.


End file.
